Beast

Other headlines I thought about using are "Rooting for the lion" and simply "Idiots." This movie is so dumb. And this is coming from someone who frequently enjoys dumb stuff. I'm the target audience for this type of movie. Yet I couldn't stop noticing how dumb everything was.

And there is a variety of dumb. The most obvious are the idiots that fill this movie. It's staggering the amount of times a character does the worst possible thing. Don't get me started on the forced family drama. It made me want the lion to eat them.

But the parts that annoyed me the most have to do with the lion. The people who made this movie either did zero research on lions, or didn't care and assumed the audience is stupid. They hope you don't know that cats can see in the dark. Or that cats can smell their prey. Or that cats have a keen sense of hearing.

(Infomercial voice) And that's not all! This lion can almost fit its entire head under a car, but doesn't use his arm to reach. Cats can reach at least half the length of their body with their arm. Also, this lion has a thousand chances for killshots and decides not to take them.

This is turning into a rant, but I can't help it. Cats are lethal predators. Even little house cats HUNT AND DESTROY without mercy. This lion has to be the worst lion in the history of lions. Apparently this lion's weakness is small knives. Ugh. That would be like fighting a linebacker with a needle.

Why not take advantage of the R-rating? This is the perfect kind of movie to go extra bloody and violent. But it's so tame. Why did they CG the humans in scenes with CG lions? It's very noticeable. Why is this listed as horror? It's not scary.

In conclusion... terrible movie. I left the theater thinking 3 stars, but after writing this review, it's a 2. (1 viewing, UltraScreen 8/23/2022)

The movie had some decent moments. Elba and Copley were nice to watch. Kinda reminded me off the oldschool (animalhuntsyou)action movies. Was kinda predictable but that doesnt bother me with this kind of film. I feel people are a but overreacting with their low scores and their 'the movie was so unrealistic' reviews. If the movie took the realistic route it would've been very boring.. Just take a snack and a drink, sit back and relax. An ideal 'chilltime' action flick!

6/10!

I know when the trailer came out, we were all thinking of the GOOD 90s flick with lions in it, but, sorry, this is not The Ghost and the Darkness.

While this isnt in the same league, I am going to be honest and say I really enjoyed it. Its pretty entertaining, decent cinematography, good background music, half way decent jumpscares and thrilling scenes, overall I got a good evening out of it.

Just leave your brains out the door, because you have Mr. Idris Elba try and literally punch a lion in this film.

So fair warning, its a popcorn film, but a decent one in that. 3.5/5.

I had to rewrite this because the first one was more of a rant with spoilers. You know those moments someone attempts to be a hero and somebody else goes "you're either really brave, or really stupid", well this is full of the latter. All the main actors keep making the most illogical decisions and the beast hunting them's actions also didn't make sense. Somebody said the writers think we're stupid. Idris Elba deserves better than this, even he couldn't save it. The script sucked, tries to hold emotional weight at times but it either falls flat or feels forced, especially from the stubborn daughter. Camera work sucked too, it looked like it was filmed by a regular guy walking around with a camera, not a professional especially when following in tight spaces, it was unstable. At times, it's like those videos of a school fight and the person recording keeps moving around and it's just commotion. It also starts out like a horror and is full of jump scares, still deciding if that's a good thing or not. I however loved that they cast locals for this, because that "African accent" Hollywood likes to use bugs me because I've never met anyone who speaks like that; like some director in the 80's decided this is how we sound and Hollywood still oblivious to it years later. So points for the accent. But the movie's still not worth the watch, it's just a family with really bad survival instincts and I haven't been this infuriated during a movie in recent memory. One of those movies that makes you wanna reach into the screen and knock some sense into the characters.

Beast isn't highbrow cinema at all. The movie knows the kind of film it is and then goes and tries to elevate it by coming up with really solid technical proficiency and great acting. The movie is just 90 minutes long, so it knows that it shouldn't overstay its welcome. The ending might come off as a bit underwhelming thanks to its abrupt nature. However, the film is great entertainment and everybody should give it a chance when in the mood for a simple and straight-to-the-point kind of movie.